Squeezing Mellon

MELLON FINANCIAL IS STARTING TO FEEL some heat from institutional shareholders who would like to see the company consider a spinoff of its large asset-management arm or take other steps to boost its stock price.

Mellon's shares (ticker: MEL) are up 8% this year, to 33.60, but they have lagged behind the gains in asset managers such as Franklin Resources (BEN), Legg Mason (LM) and BlackRock (BLK), whose stocks are up as much as 70%. Over the past seven years, Mellon hasn't delivered for investors. Shares of the...